


love with eyes open

by Sour_Idealist



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Multi, NOT a love triangle, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 07:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17638403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sour_Idealist/pseuds/Sour_Idealist
Summary: Caleb and Yeza have a short conversation about Nott, or about Veth.





	love with eyes open

In a corner of the cavern, tucked between the stalagmites, Nott was brewing up a vial of acid. She had her kit spread out around her, jars of powder wedged between the stone; her ears were pinned flat to her head, her lower lip caught between her teeth. The black leathery tip of her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth, all fierce concentration. Caleb moved slow and still across the cave, not wanting to startle her. Frumpkin purred, low and steady in his ear.

Something shifted by the fire, and Caleb jolted, nearly tripping over the stone. Pebbles clinked. Nott didn't look up.

“Sorry, sorry!” Yeza's low voice rasped. He sat up straighter, firelight flickering over the tufts of his beard. “Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you.”

“It... is fine,” Caleb said, waiting for his heart to stop racing. Frumpkin curled closer around his neck. Caleb glanced at Nott, still lost in thought, and then settled to a slow seat by the fire. On the opposite side from Yeza. Beau snored next to him. (Fjord and Caduceus were on watch proper, standing further out in the cave. Caleb wasn't ready to sleep, not yet.)

“I always loved watching her work,” Yeza said softly. “She never really believed she was much of an alchemist, but I always thought she was as good as me. She's so clever.” His gaze was still fixed on Nott, utterly rapt.

“That sounds like –” Caleb stopped as Yeza's words actually sank in. “Then you know? Who she is?”

That got Yeza to glance over at him, shaking his head. “Of course I know. She's my wife.” He smiled, faint and rueful. “I love her, but... she's never really been a good liar.”

“She has some help with this one,” Caleb pointed out, reaching up to run his fingers through Frumpkin's fur. His mouth felt dry.

“It took me a few days,” Yeza admitted, shrugging. “She does look... really different, and the whole thing is pretty weird.”

“That's an understatement,” Caleb muttered. He wasn't expecting Yeza's bright, broad grin.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “But she doesn't really sound that different, once you listen. And she still sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth the same way when she's concentrating, and she still does that little shimmy with her shoulders when she's happy.” He demonstrated, smiling into the distance. “I mean, I've known her for... a pretty long time. And I always paid attention.”

“Did she always sleep like a cat?” Caleb asked, before he could stop himself. But Yeza didn't look offended, only nodded, smiling.

“All curled up? Yeah, with her face scrunched up against her hands, even when there's a pillow right there. And her knees curled up to her chest, too. She used to have a foot hanging off the side of the bed all the time.”

“Yes.” It had usually been the end of the bed, with them. Caleb cleared his throat. “You should know, we never did anything that would... compromise your marriage. We spent a lot of time together, when it was very cold, and we got used to – to sharing a bed, to stay warm. But it was never anything more than that.” Nothing to be jealous about. Nothing for _Caleb_ to be jealous about, watching Yeza watch her with naked adoration. Stupid, and simple, and too late.

“All right,” Yeza said slowly, eyebrows drawing down together. “Okay. You know, uh, Veth and I always had a modern marriage, you know, human-style, but traditional halfling marriages are... usually three or four people, maybe adding a few more, you know, over time.”

“I... oh.” Caleb did not know that. How did he not know that? Years and years of schooling, and he'd never picked up a book on halfling marriage. It had never occurred to him that it was something that would matter. “I didn't know,” he said, out loud. The words echoed oddly.

“Yeah.” Yeza shrugged. “It's pretty old-fashioned, these days, but... I'm not jealous. I mean. She got me out of Hell.” He said it with perfect, matter-of-fact sincerity. “I don't think I have anything to worry about.”

“I'm sure you don't,” Caleb said. “She loves you very much.”

“I know.” Yeza smiled, bashful; the firelight played over a pinkness in his cheeks. He was a good man, the kind of man that Nott deserved.

“But you're not telling her that you've recognized her?” Caleb asked. It was a jolt in the flow of conversation; he didn't care.

“I figure...” Yeza held his hands out to the fire, turning them slowly in front of the flames. His head tilted, watching Nott work again. “I figure she'll tell me when she's ready. Veth always...” He sighed, shaking his head a little. “She never really saw the good in herself, so she always kind of had trouble understanding that I love her so much. It stung for a while, but then I figured out that it wasn't that she doubted me, she just... it was herself that she doubted, I guess. Sometimes I just had to sit back and love her and let her figure that out on her own time. She's smart.”

“She really is,” Caleb said, swallowing the lump in her throat. “And kind. And – I'm glad she has you.”

“Yeah.” Yeza paused, meeting his eyes over the embers of the fire. “I'm glad she had you, too. It seems like you... it seems like you matter a lot to each other.”

“She's the first friend I've had in more than fifteen years,” Caleb admitted in a low breath.

“Not the last, though.” For a moment Yeza reminded Caleb of Caducues; something in the steadiness of his gaze. “I could watch her do magic all day, too. It's not something... it's was never part of our lives, before. But it's incredible.”

“She is very good at it,” Caleb said, knowing he was demurring.

“She is,” Yeza said. “It's great.” Something clinked in the corner where Nott worked. “Oh, I – she's going to need another pair of hands in about a minute, I think. If she'll let me help.” He stood, moving a little slowly around the fire. He'd been in rough shape when they found him, and all the magic at their command hadn't been enough to fix it all. At Caleb's side, he paused.

“It's cold down here,” he said, softly. “Veth always got cold really easily. If, uh, if you're getting cold without her – I mean, like I said, I know I don't have anything to worry about. And I don't want her to be cold while she's not ready to tell me.”

“I –” Caleb's tongue felt massive in his mouth. Frumpkin nosed at his ear. “I –” Slowly, minutely, he shook his head. (His feet had been freezing, lately; he shifted in his bedroll, looking for the weight at the end, looking to press his feet against her back and feel it rise and fall with her breath. To know, when he woke in the night, that he wasn't alone in the world.)

“Okay,” Yeza said slowly. “Okay. Just, uh – keep it in mind.” Gently, he reached down and squeezed Caleb's cat-free shoulder, one quick gesture. “That's all.” And then he was limping away across the cave to Nott's temporary workroom corner, and Nott looked up at his approach and beamed at him, toothy and jagged and bright as sunlight. It was the most beautiful smile that Caleb had ever seen.

 


End file.
